Smoke detectors detect the presence of smoke particles as an early indication of fire. Smoke detectors are used in closed structures such as houses, factories, offices, shops, ships, aircraft, and the like, with virtually every building being required by law to have some sort of early warning fire detection system. In general, smoke detectors are based on the principle of detecting smoke particles in the air. Thus, smoke detectors may include a chamber that admits a test atmosphere while blocking ambient light. A light receiver within the chamber receives a level of light from an emitter within the chamber, which light level is indicative of the amount of smoke contained in the test atmosphere. Different types of fires (depending on the materials being burned and the rate of burning) result in different sized smoke particles, which then are detected in a variety of ways, the most common of which is the detection of the blockage of a test light, usually solid-state optical receivers such as photodiodes.
While there are a wide variety of different mechanisms for the detection of smoke, from a consumer's point of view there are two types of smoke detectors. The first and most common, is the battery operated smoke detector. These are self contained, and most often utilize a mounting bracket of some sort which is attached to a ceiling or wall. The unit attaches in any number of ways to the mounting bracket. A light of some sort indicates the viability of the batteries, and when the batteries get low, or when other problems occur, the unit generally emits a loud and highly annoying noise, to signal that the batteries must be changed or the unit cleaned, etc. The consumer then generally mounts a ladder, the unit is then removed from the bracket manually, the batteries changed, and the unit remounted.
The second type of unit is one that is AC powered with a battery backup. These are more common in businesses such as hotels, as they allow the primary power source to be hard wired and the batteries are used only as a backup, thus significantly extending the battery life and allowing fewer maintenance trips.
All smoke detectors are generally mounted as high as possible within the room or area, due to the fact that heat and smoke rise, and thus the higher up they are mounted the earlier a fire may be detected. This fact, however, poses the problem the present invention addresses: how to easily service the smoke detector unit when it is mounted as high as possible. Currently, the only way to change the batteries in a smoke detector is to remove the unit manually, which requires the use of a ladder to access the unit.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a device and a method for easily servicing a smoke detector unit without the use of a ladder.